Graduating MBA Students Bid Goodbye

Saturday, April 16, 2011 - 16:25

April 16, 2011
Schools of Business
@ Amritapuri, Coimbatore & Kochi

On April 9, 2011, second-year MBA students of the Amrita School of Business, Kochi assembled for one last time. These students were set to graduate soon and begin their professional careers in the corporate world.

“Life will bring both successes and failures your way,” reminded the Pro-Chancellor, Br. Abhayamrita Chaitanya, speaking to the students on this occasion. “You will need to face both with equanimity.”

Quoting examples of several Amritians, who said their time at Amrita had helped prepare them for challenges in the outside world, he said, “Remember, the real measure of success in life is not to be measured by how high one moves up in terms of corporate hierarchies, but rather by how fulfilling one’s journey is.”

A few days earlier, on April 1, Br. Abhayamrita also spoke to the graduating MBA students at the Coimbatore campus during the farewell function organized for them.

As they assembled on the lit-up lawns of the School of Business, they grew nostalgic.

“The MBA has made me a better, stronger person,” graduating student Shankara Narayan blogged. “I am more equipped to handle the pressures out there in the real world, without getting bogged down.”

The pressures of the real world will begin to be felt as graduating students start their careers in top companies they have secured placements in.

Meanwhile, graduating students of the Amritapuri campus had a parting gift for their alma mater.

Last trimester, they asked Amma if they could conduct a competition between Amrita campuses to measure and reduce the respective carbon footprints. Amma enthusiastically supported the idea and directed the students to especially focus on the reduction of paper usage.See News »

Although the students couldn’t conduct the competition, they enthusiastically embarked on measuring the carbon footprint of the Amritapuri campus, and especially the amount of paper their college used.

Since the Amrita University Management System (AUMS) is not yet implemented at the Schools of Business, the students found that several administrative functions require the extensive use of paper. The students found that paper usage peaked during the end of the trimester, when faculty feedback forms were completed.

The students designed a simple system using Google Docs, so that online feedback could be collected. The system also made it easy to aggregate the responses and generate informative graphs and figures.

As the final trimester drew to a close, this new system helped in drastically cutting down paper usage at one campus. A fitting gift indeed, from the students to their alma mater.

May these students and all Amritians be similarly inspired to bring about positive changes wherever they go. As they embark on their new lives in the professional world, we wish them all the best!

NB: Students from the Bengaluru campus graduating with an MBA-MS were on a two-week visit to the State University of New York, Buffalo in the US while graduation parties were ongoing at other campuses. Having just returned to India, they will soon have theirs.